1. Field of the Invention
The invention herein pertains to a steam iron and, more particularly, to a self-cleaning steam iron which employs a substantially large opening in the tank so that it may be suddenly emptied directly into the steam boiler which is suitably formed so that the water traverses the entire boiler rearwardly through a pair of legs to clean the boiler of all deposits.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The present invention is an improved version of the boiler dump self-cleaning iron of U.S. Pat. No. 3,823,498 which, in turn, was an improvement of the basic self-cleaning iron of U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,241 both of common assignment. Both patents disclose the concept of suddenly dumping the water tank to create a large mass of steam to clean the passages of the iron. The irons that use water for either steam or spray or both, a water tank is provided above the soleplate and a conventional water valve provides controlled and metered water drippage into a steam boiler where it flashes to steam and is directed out ports in the soleplate to steam the article. Powered or manual spray attachments have been added to irons to supply a fine spray of water to the fabric. Generally distilled water is required in steam irons because of the fineness of the various water passages and orifices subject to clogging due to mineral deposits from the water which deposits vary from one locality to another. Also, the steam ports in the soleplate collect lint from the ironing operation and some of this may find it way into the internal passage structure when the iron is up-ended and not in use. Hard tap water contains minerals which produce loose flakes of varying sizes and deposits that plate out on the iron components and clogs the fine passages. These generally consist of lime or calcium carbonate as well as other chemicals in solution in the water or they may be in relatively large flake form in the water and the deposits may vary around the country. Screens may clear the passageways and some constructions provide brushes or other cleaning implements and still others dump water into supplementary boiler systems to create extra steam and pump it through the iron. Until the U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,241 above, prior art constructions have not provided a self-cleaning iron wherein the tank and passages may be substantially completely cleaned by dumping the water onto the hot soleplate to blow out all the impurities in a simple operation in which the entire iron is purged at the end of the ironing session. The U.S. Pat. No. 3,823,498 invention improved on that basic self-cleaning function by dumping the water directly into the boiler of the iron where a scrubbing action is generated to clean the boiler of the iron as well as other passages. The present invention improves on the boiler dump U.S. Pat. No. 3,823,498 invention by particularly forming the steam generating boiler to provide a flow-thru action whereby water dumped into the boiler flows completely through it into a pair of rearwardly extending legs and thence out the soleplate ports to flush the entire boiler to remove lint and mineral deposits from the boiler and steam vents including all deposits that settle out when the iron is upended in storage position.